About Us

About Alpha Major

Alpha Major is a publisher of music theory workbooks and sheet music from todays authors and composers. Alpha Major's mission is to provide teachers and students with music theory experiences that develop effective music analysis abilities and contribute to confidence in performance and further study. Alpha Major is owned by Karen Wallace. She is the author of the Movin' with Theory workbook series, and other music publications.

About the Author / Composers

Karen Wallace

Karen Wallace is the author of the Movin' with Theory workbook series, and other music publications. She has worked for over six decades as a studio and music classroom teacher, in educational program and event management, and in scholarly and music publishing. Her classroom teaching expertise spans preschool through graduate level as well as professional credentialed continuing education. In 2003, Karen Wallace was named Texas Teacher of the Year by the Texas Music Teachers Association. Karen holds degrees in music from Southwestern University and a Masters from the University of Houston. As a teen, Karen was an award winning pianist and TMTA Gold Medal theory winner.

Janet Soller

Janet is the author / composer of many sheet music publications for Alpha Major. She holds music degrees from Southwestern University and Southern Methodist University and continued with post graduate studies at Peabody Conservatory, Johns Hopkins University, and the Royal Northern College of Music.

Diane L. Anderson

Diane L. Anderson composes accessible and contemporary works for piano. Students find her piano solos sophisticated, making them appealing choices regardless of how late your student began lessons. As a college student in piano ensemble class, Anderson composed her first work, Tomorrow’s Past for two pianos. Anderson also composes for a wide-combination of instruments. University of New Hampshire has premiered her Wind Trio, Music for Winds and Strings, Piano and Percussion, and Symphony for Winds. Anderson earned a BA in music, magna cum laude from University of Massachusetts Lowell and a MA in music from the University of New Hampshire. At UNH, she studied with Kjos composer Andrew J. Boysen, Jr. Anderson resides in Massachusetts with her husband, maintains a piano studio, accompanies, and is active in her association memberships (MTNA, Guild).

Joel McCray

Jazz musician, composer, and teacher Joel McCray is in demand throughout the United States as a clinician and performer. McCray grew up in Riesel, Texas and started playing the piano at 18 months. His primary piano teacher was his mother, Ruby H. McCray. He currently serves as the Founder and Director of J & B Music Ministries, Vice President of Social Media and Teaching Artist for The Artist Outreach, the worship pastor of High Point Baptist Church, Cedar Hill, Texas, director, writer and arranger for Zamar (band), and keyboardist for Joseph Vincelli. In his first collaboration with Alpha Major, McCray composed Smart Jazz, a collection of piano solos which offer elementary/intermediate piano students the opportunity to play more than jazz and blues formulas. Versatile in all that he does, McCray graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BBA in finance and NCAA, All American status in track.

Karol Ann Badgett

Compositions and commissions for solo piano, choir, voice and piano, instrumental works, chamber music, and works for orchestra represent Karol Ann Badgett’s extensive oeuvre. Badgett earned her doctorate in composition at the Butler School of Music, University of Texas, Austin. Her works have been performed throughout the United States, including at The Interlochen Academy for the Performing Arts, Michigan, the Penn Institute in Washington, DC, and at the 2006 MTNA National Convention. Dr. Badgett has studied composition with Donald Grantham, Karl Korte, Joseph Schwantner, Kevin Puts, Russell Riepe, and Gordon Goodwin. Her piano duets were selected for the National Federation of Music Club Bulletin, 2014-2016. In addition to composing, she performs as an active accompanist and church musician, and maintains a private studio in Austin.

Scott Wasserman

Scott Wasserman is in demand as a composer, orchestrator, music director, and rehearsal pianist. His credits include Broadway, regional theater, New York workshops, and television. From a classically-trained background, Wasserman earned his BFA in music composition from Carnegie Mellon University. Wasserman received many honors and awards including Undergraduate Prize winner of the 2010 Student Composers’ Competition and a place with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s composer/lyricist residency program. His Carnegie Mellon achievements were academic as well and included being named Andrew Carnegie Society Scholar and inducted to Pi Kappa Lambda. Wasserman’s works have been performed at Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh, Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, University of Missouri Columbia, Carnegie Mellon University, and by the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, University of Delaware, and Belmont University. Whatever genre, Wasserman’s training as a baritone is evident throughout his oeuvre; singers love his music. In collaboration with Alpha Major, Wasserman discovered relatively unknown yet some of the most widely popular tunes in America’s past. In Heritage: New Songs for Old Tunes, Wasserman writes relevant, contemporary songs, demonstrating how new, thoughtful, and just plain fun old songs can be.

Sebastian Chang

Sebastian Chang is an award winning American composer and pianist who demonstrated his love of music from a very early age. Chang performed on From the Top, was a Davidson Scholar, and won First Place at the national level in MTNA’s Composition Competition in the Elementary, Junior, and Senior Divisions. He earned his Bachelor of Music from Curtis and his Master of Music from University of Southern California. With Alpha Major, Chang composes piano solos and duets. This music provides your piano students with a new, fresh voice for piano festivals and recitals. Perhaps one reason he speaks to young pianists is because of his love of music and competition winning skills as a young pianist. Holiday Suite was selected for the National Federation Music Club Bulletin 2014-2015-2016.
His works have been performed by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra , Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Louisville Orchestra. Chang has won three BMI Student Composer Awards and five ASCAP Young Composer Awards. In 2012, he was composer-in-resident at Garden Music, Miami, Florida. Chang’s teachers included composers Jennifer Higdon and Donald Crockett. His training also included intensive film-scoring program at USC.

Susan Conner

One of Alpha Major’s most popular authors, Susan Conner teaches piano in Winters, a small town in west Texas. With a degree in music from Texas Tech University, Conner is a Nationally Certified Teacher, Music Teachers National Association. With a combination of over 35 years of teaching and a creative intellect, Conner wrote Studio Projects: Functional Keyboard Skills, a practical teaching resource that contains reproducible pages teachers. A respected clinician, Conner served as President and officer for Texas Music Teachers Association (TMTA) for ten years and served on TMTA Board for 20, she remains active in her local association, Abilene Music Teachers. Conner frequently judges for festivals and the National Guild of Piano Teachers. She serves her community on the board of the Winters Area Foundation, Winters Ministerial Alliance and as a church musician. Conner and her husband have three sons and one granddaughter.